Raytec Ltd

Raytec were an IFSEC Awards finalist in the “Security Project or Installation of the Year” category, for their recent LED lighting installation at the University of North Tees Hospital, in the UK.

The ground breaking, multi-purpose White-Light project is the first large scale NHS LED lighting project of its kind in the UK. RAYLUX White-Light illuminators from Raytec including the new RAYLUX Urban, replace old style inefficient lighting to deliver lighting for not only surveillance but safer environments, revealing the potential for significant energy, CO2 and cost-savings in the public sector.

RAYLUX Urban provides crystal clear White-Light for safer environments when lighting is required not just for cameras, but also for people. Urban LED illuminators provide significant energy savings compared to traditional lighting and have an attractive design making them suitable for down-lighting applications including car parks, schools, colleges, hospitals and pathways.

Illuminating the University Hospital of North Tees is one of the first examples of the security industry diversifying and identifying opportunity to provide lighting for cameras and lighting for pedestrians, all on the same project.

Having already supplied North Tees Hospital with Raytec IR lighting, security installer Visual Security Systems saw the potential to deploy Raytec White-Light to save energy and money whilst improving the performance of the site’s exterior lighting. The NHS Trust for North Tees and Hartlepool wanted to reduce the high running and maintenance costs from their 95 old external lights, which were not only energy hungry but highly unreliable. The 250W and 400W metal halide car park lighting had a high rate of failure and the 70W sodium lighting surrounding the hospital ring roads had poor, dull colour rendition and was very slow to start.

RAYLUX Urban units were installed to down light the hospital ring roads and pathways, whilst Raytec’s conventional RAYLUX White-Light illuminators were used to cover large car park areas across the site. The illuminators are energy efficient, quick-start and reliable, delivering a safer, more evenly lit environment for people and vehicles on site, whilst the accurate colour rendition of the units allows the site camera system to achieve better surveillance images during the hours of darkness.
As well as highlighting best practice for multi-purpose site lighting, this project leads the way from a green perspective. Based on power consumption and life time of the products, the Trust is set to significantly reduce carbon emissions and save 40 tonnes of CO2 per year. With 70[[]%] power savings, the trust will also save up to ￡8000 a year on running costs and maintenance. Over the ten year life of the installation, the savings are expected to total up to ￡80,000.

The project highlights new opportunities for all security installers to diversify by leveraging existing contacts and provide multi-purpose lighting solutions not only for surveillance, but also for safer environments. This has always been a missed opportunity for security installers, especially when you consider that the same facility manager responsible for CCTV lighting is also responsible for general site lighting.

“We are delighted to be leading the way and we hope that others will follow,” says Richard Speight, the Trust’s Head of Facility Management. “We have made these savings without any compromise on quality. We provide acute services to more than 40,000 people living in Stockton-on-Tees, Hartlepool, East Durham and parts of Sedgefield and as a 24-hour-a-day operation it is essential that we provide good quality lighting that won’t fail.

“We also have a duty not to waste public money – which is why we’re investing in this smarter lighting technology which will deliver substantial ongoing savings.”

Given this phenomenal success NHS Trust for North Tees and Hartlepool plans to extend the Raytec lighting scheme across all of its premises to further reduce bills and improve performance.